Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande And Justin Bieber Are All Part Of A Historic Trend Atop The Hot 100

The Hot 100 has a new champion this week, as Nicki Minaj and 6ix9ine debut their latest joint single “Trollz” atop the most important songs chart in the U.S. The track replaces DaBaby and Roddy Ricch’s “Rockstar” at No. 1, which itself kicked another powerful pairing out of the spotlight. This is a trend that has been going on for well over a month now, and it looks like 2020 will be remembered as the year of the unstoppable duet.

There have now been a dozen No. 1 songs on the Hot 100 this year, and seven of them can be classified as duets. Perhaps even more surprising is that those seven have all come in a row, without a single group or soloist scoring a leader in between any of them. According to Billboard, this is now the longest run of collaborations to rule the roster in its half-century-long history.

The trend kicked off in early May when Travis Scott and Kid Cudi, operating as The Scotts (though the win counts toward their solo discographies as well) debuted their self-titled single at No. 1. That song only managed one turn atop the all-encompassing tally, and it was the first in a line of five tracks that would find their way to the peak position, only to be replaced a week later.


“The Scotts” was immediately followed by Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj’s “Say So,” Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber’s “Stuck With U,” Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé’s “Savage” and Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me,” in that order. DaBaby and Ricch’s “Rockstar” held on for two frames, only to step aside for the massive seller “Trollz.”


While superstars like Post Malone, The Weeknd and Drake all managed to rise to No. 1 all on their own in early 2020, it now looks like even the biggest names in the business are relying on each other to beat out the competition and snag another chart-topper. Some of these wins have been engineered to conquer the ranking from the outset by putting the super famous in the studio together—Gaga and Grande’s “Rain on Me,” Grande and Bieber’s “Stuck With U” and 6ix9ine and Minaj’s “Trollz,” for example—while others have seen one powerhouse join with a lesser-known act to push a remixed hit to No. 1—Bey hopping on Stallion’s “Savage” or Minaj contributing to Cat’s “Say So.”



However they come together, collaborations are hotter than ever, and now that producers, songwriters, label executives, managers and, most importantly, rappers and pop stars have seen how well this strategy can work on the Hot 100, it’s likely that these pairings will only become more frequent. With half a year left before 2021 kicks off, there’s no telling how many more duets will rocket to the top of the closely-watched singles chart, but chances are there will be at least one or two more that manage to rule.